Shadows Dialog Box

The Shadows dialog box is used to control SketchUp's Shadows feature, including display, time and date, and site location and orientation. You can also use the Shadows Toolbar control to control shadows. Activate the Shadow Settings dialog box from the Window menu.

Note - Ensure you have set the proper location for your model set through the Location panel of the Model Info dialog box for accurate shadow casting.

Note - Daylight savings time is not factored into shadow calculations.

Shadows Options

SketchUp contains a variety Shadow setting options allowing you to manipulate the use of shadows within your model.

Display Shadows

Click on the Display Shadows checkbox to toggle between displaying and not displaying shadows within your model.

Time

Use Time slider to adjust the time of day used by SketchUp to determine the location of the sun for shadow casting. The slider adjusts the time from sunrise to sunset, with 12:00 noon in the middle of the slider. Type a time into the time text field to set a precise time.

Date

Use the Date slider to adjust the day of the year used by SketchUp to determine the location of the sun for shadow casting. The slider adjusts the date from January 1st to December 31st. Type a date into the date text field to set a precise day. You can specify the date in numerical form (11/8).

Light

Use the Light slider to control the intensity of the light in the model. (it lightens or darkens light). This option effectively lightens and darkens illuminated surfaces.

Dark

Use the Dark slider to control the intensity of light in the model. This option (it lightens or darkens shadows). This option effectively lightens and darkens the areas under shade and shadows.

On Faces

Click on the Faces checkbox to enable casting of Face shadows. This feature makes intensive use of your 3D graphics hardware and can cause performance degradation.

On Ground

Click the On Ground checkbox to enable the casting of shadows on the ground plane (the red/green plane).

From Edges

Click the From Edges checkbox to enable the casting of shadows from edges that are not associated with a face.

Details Arrow

Click on the arrow in the upper-right portion of the Scene Manager dialog box to show or hide additional Entity Info details.